Ottawa urged to up its game on border
Conservative MP Strahl blasts feds for taking ‘too long’ to act, not being prepared for COVID-19
B.C.’s frustration with Ottawa’s lack of enforcement of the Quarantine Act on people arriving from abroad highlights the disconnect between what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is doing and what is happening on the ground, according to the Conservative MP for Chilliwack–Hope.
“The federal government has been a week or two behind where they should have been,” Mark Strahl said, citing the export of personal protective equipment at the start of the crisis when it should have been stockpiled and delays closing the border with the U.S.
“I’m sure they will get to the point where they enforce the Quarantine Act and the need for self-isolation, but it always takes them too long. And in this lag time it could be literally the difference between life and death.”
Strahl praised the B.C. government’s response to the crisis as open and transparent.
But it is Ottawa’s responsibility to tell border services officers at Vancouver International Airport to either assure people arriving from COVID19 hot spots can get home alone to self-isolate without stopping or set up a location for mandatory quarantine with food and shelter for those who cannot, said Strahl.
On Monday — as it was reported there had been 63 more COVID-19 cases over the previous two days and one death — B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said it was vitally important for family and friends of people returning to Canada to ensure they had the supports to go into a compulsory 14-day quarantine.
There are thousands of Canadians still overseas and trying to get back into the country. On Monday evening alone there were flights from Tokyo, London, China and Hong Kong inbound to Vancouver International Airport, as well as many flights from the U.S. and flights from elsewhere in Canada.
Dix said an announcement was expected shortly outlining what steps the two senior levels of government were taking to ensure every Canadian returning home go straight into a two-week quarantine. Dix had last week called for a stronger measures at Vancouver International Airport and for the federal government to supply the B.C. Ministry of Health a detailed list of all Canadians coming back to the province.
“I think we’re making progress, and I think they’re hearing us,” he said on Monday.
Also Monday, the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said there had now been 1,266 COVID-19 cases in British Columbia, of which 783 have recovered. Henry said the most recent fatality brought the B.C. death toll to 39. “This person did pass away at home and was a known positive case,” she said. “That’s doubly tragic for us. That was a man in his 40s, so we are, of course, concerned about the effects this virus can have even on young people. We know that there’s been some young people in other parts of the country, including someone in their 20s who unfortunately died in Alberta over the last few days.
“Young people are not immune to this. Most of the people who have, unfortunately, died here in B.C., are people from the long-term care homes ... in their 70s or older.” Henry said the percentage of new cases has been slowing. “But we must keep the firewall strong. We must keep doing what we are doing to break chains of transmission.”